Anyone that’s ever played sports in their lives has heard the old school colloquialism “The best ability is availability.” Well playas…LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are doing everything in their power to be as available as they can be for the 2021-22 season. On Tuesday at their Media Day the team was at least 90 percent vaccinated and by the time the season starts in mid October they should be 100 percent.
When speaking with reporters LeBron had this to say, “You’re always trying to figure out ways that you can just be available and protect one another and put yourself in the best possible chance where you are available to your teammates, available to what we need to do on the floor.”
He went on to say, “The ultimate goal is to obviously win a championship. And it starts with, obviously, health as the No. 1 thing. We’re excited to know that we’ve given ourselves another opportunity to be available to each other, and that’s what it came down to.”
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! In order to be in the hunt for a championship you have to be on the floor and available to compete. There are so many factors that are beyond a player’s control like injuries. No one can control when and where they get hurt. However, they can control their vaccination status and how sick they would potentially get if infected with COVID-19.
The numbers don’t lie!!! Those that have been fully vaccinated have a very small chance of being hospitalized and dying if they’re infected with COVID-19. Ninety-nine percent of those being hospitalized and dying of COVID-19 at this point have not been vaccinated. It’s simple math at this point.
The Lakers understand that if they are going to be able to compete for a title this year. They’ve at least got to be available to play from a health standpoint. There are several cities in the country that will not allow unvaccinated people to enter their arenas such as New York City and San Francisco. There may be others that follow this model as well.
Therefore, if a player isn’t vaccinated. He will not be able to play in those cities. That’s called being unavailable and that’s not good.
Big shout to the Lakers for seeing the big picture. Stop me when I start lyin’!
